


the ruby effect

by paxamdays



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: AU, Alternature Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/M, Fluff, I guess???, M/M, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, and a gross overuse of italics, eddie's just a little bitch, this is so long i'm sorry, vague discriptions of simple things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 17:22:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21140393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paxamdays/pseuds/paxamdays
Summary: ‘Ruby’ was derived from the word ‘rubatosis’, which in turn had the very vague definition of 'the awareness of your own heartbeat.' Eddie didn't know how one was supposed to be able to feel their own heartbeat in this special way, let alone someone else's, but he doesn't make the rules so it didn't matter at all.•In which Eddie is a cynic and Richie, in true Richie Tozier fashion, makes truly awful jokes (and neither of them really know how to talk to each other without being fucking awkward, but that's fine.)





	the ruby effect

**Author's Note:**

> little spin i’ve put on the good old soulmate au. also this is very long because i apparently don’t know what brevity is.

They called it _the Ruby Effect_ — truth be told, Eddie thought the name was fucking ridiculous.

_Ruby_ was derived from the word_ rubatosis,_ which in turn had the very vague definition of_ 'the awareness of your own heartbeat.'_ Eddie didn't know how one was supposed to be able to feel their own heartbeat, let alone someone else's, but he doesn't make the rules so it didn't matter at all.

The lore was simple, having been drilled into everyone's heads since they were all young and impressionable: _you'll know when you see them, the one for you, the love of your life. You're heart will start beating softly in your chest. You'll feel it, legitimately feel it, like a continuous drumbeat. Then it'll get faster and more noticeable, until finally, you're face to face with them. Your soulmate._

_But how can we know if our heart's really beating because of love?_

_You'll know. You always do._

He thought it was fucking dumb. Apparently, though, Eddie bitched too much about the so called _'Ruby Effect',_ because it was only 10:45 in the morning — second period had barely started — and Beverly was already telling him to shut the fuck up.

"Bev, listen, I know you're a hopeless romantic, and that's fine and all, but I just don't believe in that kind of stuff." 

To which Beverly replied, "I fucking know because you never stop talking about it." 

Eddie rolled his eyes. It was a Tuesday, which meant that they were in English. Their teacher never cared about social interaction in the class, so long as people were actually doing their work. Of course, that didn't stop a vast majority of the class from talking without taking notes. Eddie and Beverly, however, were a part of the exception. 

The book they were currently studying was _The Catcher in the Rye,_ which they both absolutely detested. As Eddie wrote about 'the implications of Holden's dream regarding saving children from running off a cliff' (_He's a rich and entitled little shit...who fucking cares...),_ Beverly continued to berate him.

"Seriously, dude, you bitch about how much you hate soulmates so much that it's kind of become your thing."

"It has _not!"_

"Has too! That and having a weird Oedipus-like relationship with your mum."

"Ew! You're fucking gross. Look, it's not my fault I hate that shit, I just think falling in love with someone is so...overrated." 

But Beverly, ever the optimist, always had the same comeback whenever he got too angsty about the futile concepts of _love_ and _soulmates_ and how much he despised them.

"Oh, come on, Eddie! What's so wrong with falling in love?"

Jesus, was she trying to humour him?

It wasn't like Eddie ever had fallen in love himself — in fact, the very idea of someone loving him was fucking laughable. Maybe that was partly why he hated the whole soulmate bullshit; deep down, he knew that he'd never find that one person who was supposedly_ 'the one',_ that faultless and ethereal individual who was meant to be some missing piece in the puzzle of Eddie's heart. That in itself was dumb, because although Eddie was a pessimist, he didn't see himself as broken and in need of fixing. If anything, it didn't seem entirely healthy to consider yourself as incomplete without the need of someone else.

But, Eddie digresses.

As well as being a bitter little asshole, he was a bit of a realist as well; falling in love seemed too tiring, too painful and harsh. Everyone acted as though it was something beautiful and magical, like something from a 40s film. But Eddie, a firm believer in Murphy's law, knew otherwise;_ 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.' _

And there are so, so many ways love can go wrong. 

"'What's wrong with falling in love?' Christ, Bev, you can't be fuckin' serious. It's stressful, it's exhausting, it's fucking annoying. And what about, dare I say, heartbreak? That shit hurts, Bev, and I'm not going to have anything to do with it."

"What would you even know about heartbreak, man? You're too scared to give love a chance that you couldn't even imagine the outcome."

He wanted to argue that sentiment, but realised that he _couldn't._ He didn't want to admit that she was right either (and she wasn't, because Eddie was only afraid of things that made sense, like diseases and vague nutritional information on food labels, not illogical things like the Ruby Effect), but he also didn't want things to become uncomfortable. So he swallowed his goddamn pride, looked her dead in the eye, and smiled.

"You're just sappy because you barf up butterflies whenever you're around Ben." 

Beverley blushed and tried to suppress a smile; she failed, instead opting to tuck a loose bunch of hairs behind her ear and letting the smile tug at the corners of her mouth. She laughed, and said, "Fuck you, asshole. I...I love him, y'know? Jeez, Eddie, you don't know how wonderful it feels. You're heart just tells you. And when you see them for the first time, like, really look at them and take everything in, every bit of their hair, the way there eyes look when they see you as well...shit, Eddie, it's unreal. I can't wait until you find them and feel it too."

Eddie didn't respond; he didn't think that he could. He just pursed his lips in some weak attempt at a smile and got back to doing his work.

•

In retrospect, deciding not to go to the comic book store with Beverly was probably the best decision of his life. Of course, he wouldn't realise that until later, but it didn't make the last minute change in decision any less important. 

"I'm just gonna go home", he said. He didn't want to meet her gaze, because it felt like she was judging him for being such a fucking cynic. Deep down, he knew that she would never think that of him and he was just being paranoid; it didn't stop the thought from routinely flashing across his mind, however. 

"You wanna talk later? Dad's not coming home 'till nine, so I can use the phone for a bit."

"I'll see how my mum is, I don't want her to have an aneurysm if she hears me talking to you."

Beverley laughed and punched his shoulder. "Later, Eddie."

She turned around and walked away. Eddie made his way down the footpath.

The sun beat down against his neck. He mentally scolded himself for not wearing a hat; _what if you develop a melanoma?! Fuck, good job fuckface, now you're gonna die._ He tried to push the thought deep down, but couldn't manage to shake it off entirely.

The walk was quiet, save for the occasional car passing by on the road and the shuffling of his footsteps. In the distance, the low and continuous sound of something rickety soon filled his ears — like something rolling on gravel. But Eddie disregarded it as something unimportant.

Alone with his thoughts, he opted to think of something that wouldn't simultaneously depress and piss him off; the new Twin Peaks movie, when he should study with Beverly, what station he should listen to to record songs for his new mixtape. But the Ruby Effect, ever the annoyance, seeped back into his mind; specifically, what Beverly had said. She was wrong, wasn't she? She had to be. The whole conversation gave the implication that something was wrong with him, like he was missing the desire to want to make himself vulnerable and fall in love.

Despite the subject always seeming to occupy his thoughts, Eddie found thinking about _soulmates_ and _heartbeats_ and _forever_ to be tiring and trivial. He wished, more than anything, to never have a single thought of love grace his mind again; but of course, wishing for things never seemed to work. He sighed and held his binder closer to his chest, _hoping_ (because maybe it'd work better than _wishing)_ that one day he'd stop feeling anything at all.

Then he felt it. A low, steady hum in his chest. Barely even noticeable at first, but there all the same. Until it grew quicker, more _intense_ and _wild,_ bounded and desperate to escape the confines of his rib cage. He found himself not being able to breathe, colours dotting his vision, his eyesight turning kaleidoscopic and hazy. The gravelly sound had become so loud and felt so close, until Eddie felt like he would scream, or fucking _collapse,_ or explode into a million pieces—

"Shit, fucking move!"

Something crashed into his back, and Eddie fell to ground, his palms and knees smashing against the pavement as he rolled on his side. He groaned in pain and looked up at the dickhead who'd hit him — he could barely make out his features, only being able to identify a pair of glasses, ratty hair, a fucking Hawaiian shirt, and a skateboard. It was a guy, a really skinny looking guy, and he was leaning forward as if getting closer to Eddie would magically cure his ailments.

"Woah, holy shit dude, are you okay?"

The guy looked down — how could someone be so _fucking tall_ — and let out a small gasp. Eddie cursed under his breath as he tried to sit himself up on the concrete, not completely understanding why this absolute tree of a person suddenly seemed so shocked. His knees stung like hell and everything was on fire, so Eddie couldn't really find himself caring about the guy anyway.

But then it came back. The low and steady hum, rapidly evolving into a heavy pulsating feeling, before finally, his heart was smashing against the wall of his rib cage, so eager to get out. _To do what? To do **what? **_Everything felt too painful and too heavy, and suddenly a wave of panic washed over him, overwhelming Eddie so much he almost started to cry. He didn't know what the hell was happening to him, but all he wanted to do was go home and douse his scraped knees in antiseptic and curl up on his bed and sob into a pillow.

"I'm so sorry", the guy said quickly. "I just started randomly freaking out, like my chest was on fucking _fire,_ and I got distracted and...fuck, _fuck, _are you alright? Ah, shit, your knees look busted."

"Listen, asshole", Eddie seethed, desperate to remain calm by covering up the pain with a sharp comeback as he found himself back on his feet. "When you crash your skateboard into someone, do you think that they're going to be _fucking okay—"_

His eyes found their way to the dumbass who'd maimed him, his gaze meeting their own, and—

Holy shit.

_Holy shit._

The guy wasn't just some regular dumbass — of course, it _had_ to be the king of dumbasses, Derry's own court jester who deserved to be punched in the fucking face. Oh, he _had_ to be dreaming, because there was no _actual_ way in hell he could be standing there and staring at Richie goddamn Tozier — all five feet and 10 inches of pure jackassery and crude humour and quick wit. He'd never even had a conversation with him, because it's not like he necessarily wanted to subject himself to an annoying little shit whose comments were never void of a raunchy your mum joke. Eddie's heart — now unnaturally still, having ceased from beating a few moments prior — almost fell out of his chest.

_No. Fucking. Way._

"No fucking way", Richie whispered, echoing Eddie's own thoughts. His eyes were wide and dark and seemed bigger from behind the lenses of his glasses. He slid his headphones off his ears and let them hang limply around his neck; Eddie could hear the obnoxiously loud blare of _Everybody Wants To Rule The World_ emitting from the headphones. For some unbeknownst reason, the music alone sent a chill down the back of his neck. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"Likewise", Eddie replied, breathless.

The two remained unmoving in a shared stunned silence. Richie coughed.

"So you're my soulmate", he murmured, although it sounded more like a statement then an actual question. "That's...unexpected. You're a lot shorter than I was hoping for, but I guess if you were taller than me we'd just look like a couple of praying mantises walking around and holding hands and shit."

"H-Holding hands?" Eddie choked. "That's something we'd do?"

Richie shrugged and grinned. "I'm assuming we would. That's what people in love do, right?"

How the fuck was Eddie supposed to know? He had never been in love before, and now he'd just been thrown into the fucking deep end with Richie 'Trashmouth' Tozier.

"I-I guess. I don't know. I just met you, I don't even know if you have a weird thing about personal space."

"Rest assured, I don't. You seem like a paranoid over thinker, so I'm going to assume that you're the one with personal space issues."

_Crap_. Two minutes into knowing his soulmate and he already had Eddie half figured out.

"Oh", he groaned. "This is weird, this is so fucking weird."

Richie shrugged again. Apparently, it was his default pose. "I don't think so. You're pretty cute, you know."

His eyes suddenly widened; they looked almost warped because of those stupid glasses. "Shit, I didn't mean that. I mean, I _did_ mean it, because I do think you're cute, but I literally just met you and I just really called you cute and I'm so fucking dumb, _fuck."_

"No, no, its fine, really", Eddie said quickly. "I get it, you don't need to feel shitty about it. I...thank you. You're...you're not too bad yourself, I guess."

"Thanks?"

To which Eddie smiled weakly in reply. When he wouldn't say anything back (and who could blame him, this was so fucking awkward), Richie hesitantly opened his mouth to speak.

"So...you wanna go get ice cream?" he mumbled.

"I'm...I'm not allowed to have ice cream."

"Wait, what? Are you, like, lactose intolerant or some shit?"

Eddie shrugged sheepishly and looked down, a blush spreading across his cheeks. "My mum won't let me. She says dairy is too overprocessed and it will give me kidney stones."

"That...is the dumbest shit I've ever heard."

"Yeah, I know."

The two found themselves stuck in an awkward silence once again. Eddie kept his gaze towards the ground, wishing that it'd open up and swallow him whole. This was awful. This was worse than not falling in love at all, because this was already _getting_ there, and being too fucking inept and stupid to act on it and make a move—

Then Richie started chuckling. Soft and barely noticeable at first, before gradually erupting into a fit of laughter.

"H-Holy shit dude, _seriously?_ You can't have ice cream? That's fucking _crazy!_ And kidney stones? From _ice cream?_ Oh my god, I can't fucking breathe."

He dropped his skateboard and doubled over, like it was the funniest shit he'd ever heard. Eddie stared at him and wondered if he was deranged (of course his soulmate would be insane). But there was something so oddly enticing about the way Richie laughed, about the way his body contorted and his face seemed to shine with the glow of a thousand lights. His hair fell over his forehead and eyes, and he was so engrossed that he didn't even bother to fix it. His lips were pink and thin and stayed permanently raised at the corners as he laughed with enough happiness to make Eddie want to keep all the bad things in the world from ever touching him. Everything was so chaotic and unpredictable, and he managed to look so..._beautiful,_ while doing so. _Beautiful,_ a word so foreign to Eddie's mind, felt like the only one he could use to describe Richie.

He was so, so beautiful. Eddie felt his own lips begin to form a smile, and soon he was laughing too.

"It's so dumb", he choked out between laughs. "Like, fucking kidney stones? She couldn't think of anything better? Christ, just say I'm lactose intolerant, it's more believable than _fucking kidney stones."_

Richie looked like he was about to cry. His wrapped his arms around his stomach and shook wildly, as if he was about to explode. "Stop, _stop,_ I'm gonna piss myself."

He gradually regained his composure and stood upright, kicking his board up and catching it with his right hand. Eddie threw an arm across his mouth in an attempt to muffle his remaining giggles. Eventually, they died down, and the two were left staring at each other once more, incredible smiles plastered on their faces.

"So, is ice cream good then? Or would you prefer something that won't make you shit rocks?”

Eddie thought about soulmates and love and Beverly. He thought about how she'd be telling him how wrong he had been, _I fucking told you so!_ He thought about how he had wasted so much time and happiness on believing that he'd never find love, that he was unworthy of discovering that beautiful somebody. Most of all, he thought about soulmates and how fucking lucky he had been to be blessed with the pleasure of finding him. He was standing there, _right in front of him,_ and for the first time in his entire life, Eddie felt so sure and so content. His heart reminded him of that by continuing to beat at a comforting pace from within his chest.

"Ice cream sounds great."


End file.
